S G Joshi, John Tenniel: The Power of Simple and Vague

John Gray: "...To be sure, the pursuit of self-realisation does not often result in happiness. But is it happiness that most people are pursuing? Or is it stimulus and excitement?..."

It is now clear, going by the most reviews, that Tim Burton's film 'Alice in Wonderland' has screwed up Lewis Carroll's 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'.

I felt sorry because I really love some of Burton's earlier work: Batman (1989) and Planet of the Apes (2001).

But Mr. Burton like all of us has been affected by Disneyfication of everything around us.

Ramin Setoodeh writes:

"...The only way to understand Alice is to use your imagination. Do you even remember how to do that? In our society of Web links, Wikipedia, Facebook, and reality TV, everything and everybody comes with a label and an exhaustive definition. There's scant room for ambiguity and interpretation. The genius of the 145-year-old Wonderland is that it forces you to bring your own creative juices to the tea party...

...In short, the story is a metaphor for how Alice uses her imagination to quench her boredom; Carroll says her favorite phrase is "let's pretend." What she also does is remind us how little we do that anymore..."

(Newsweek, Feb 26, 2010)

Lewis Carroll handpicked the accomplished illustrator John Tenniel to draw pictures of Alice for his story. His images were often simple and vague, so you could bring your own imagination to the tea party.

Here is an example:


Earlier on this blog, I have embedded an illustration by S G Joshi (सीताराम गंगाधर जोशी) for C V Joshi's (चिं. वि. जोशी) book.

Vasant Sarwate has done a moving appreciation of unsung S G Joshi's art in his book "Parakee Chalan", 1989.

He and I spoke on Joshi's work. Sarwate told me how he tried to meet Joshi in Joshi's home-town Baroda. We also speculated how little money would probably have come to Joshi for this work.

I feel, in following picture, Joshi has tried hard to motivate us to bring our imagination along with our appetite to the lunch!


Artist: S G Joshi सीताराम गंगाधर जोशी

Gross Injustice to G A Kulkarni's Memory?

(There are a few more entries on this blog on G A Kulkarni and his art. Click here to access them.)

Recently I was reading "Priya Jee E Sa. Na. Vi. Vi.", 1994 (प्रिय जी. ए. स. न. वि. वि.) edited by G A Kulkarni's (जी. ए. कुलकर्णी) cousin-sister Nanda Paithankar (नंदा पैठणकर) one more time.

G A Kulkarni received Sahitya Akademi Award in 1973 for his collection of short stories 'Kajalmaya' (काजळमाया).

Although today it looks no more than a storm in teacup, the award created a huge controversy that stirred middle class Marathi world.

No one doubted the merit of the book but the controversy was about whether the book qualified for the award in the first place.

The criterion laid down by the Akademi was that the book had to be published between Jan 1 1970- Dec 31 1972.

'Kajalmaya' wasn't published before March 1973!

This was raked up by 'Maharashtra Times' (महाराष्ट्र टाईम्स) whose staff member wanted to hit Ramdas Bhatkal (रामदास भटकळ), GA's publiher. (So much bitching went on in that small, claustrophobic world)!

Instead G A was devastated by the controversy and promptly returned the award. He wrote many letters in great anguish and received as many.

Ms. Paithankar's book carries a lot of that correspondence and even carries a picture of the receipt of the award amount- the then princely amount of Rs. 5,000- by the Akademi.

The book has an undated- from 1975- English letter by G A Kulkarni to the Akademi where he says: "...I have no desire to accept the award as it is, whatever the rules of the Akademi, which do not recognize a new problem like my book's. Unless the Akademi condones the irregularity, or accepts the book definitely in 1972,The award may please be treated as permanently returned..."

Since the Akademi's website still carries G A's name as the recipient of 1973 award, it should refer to this controversy and announce there what G A desired so desperately: "condones the irregularity, or accepts the book definitely in 1972."

It should also clarify the small matter of Rs. 5,000 because G A's best friend Jaywant Dalwi (जयवंत दळवी), in a lighter vein, wondered if G A's 'return' cheque was ever encashed by the Akademi!

ITC, Don't Worry, Obama is on your side

"Smokers have to now pay more for their puffs as the Government today announced a steep hike in the excise duty in the Budget proposals. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, while presenting the Budget today, announced an upward revision of excise rates up to Rs 2,363 per 1000 sticks." (PTI, Feb 26 2009)

And like Obama, Pranab Mukherjee, once a passionate smoker himself, will find it hard to quit spending and reign in India's fiscal deficit.


Artist: Scott Stantis

Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan: I sometimes wonder who all this is really for

"akhil bharatiya marathi sahitya sammelan" (अखिल भारतीय मराठी साहित्य संमेलन) is upon us.

What connects following authors- not listed in any order- of 20th century in Marathi?

V K Rajwade, Bhalchandra Nemade, Sane Guruji, Bhau Padhye, C V Joshi, Baburao Arnalkar, Vilas Sarang, D G Godse, Vasant Sarwate, Vijay Tendulkar, Natyachhatakar Diwakar, G A Kulkarni, Arun Kolatkar, Dilip Chitre, B S Mardhekar, M V Dhond, T S Shejwalkar, Vinda Karandikar, Balkavi, Keshavsut, Jayant Narlikar, Laxmibai Tilak, Vinoba Bhave, Setu Madhavrao Pagdi, D B Mokashi, Sadanand Rege, Ram Ganesh Gadkari, Namdeo Dhasal, Govindrao Tembe, C T Khanolkar, S N Pendse, R V Dighe...

(वि का राजवाडे, भालचंद्र नेमाडे, साने गुरूजी, भाऊ पाध्ये, चिं. वि. जोशी, बाबूराव अर्नाळकर, विलास सारंग, द ग गोडसे, वसंत सरवटे, विजय तेंडुलकर, नाट्यछटाकार दिवाकर, जी ए कुलकर्णी, अरुण कोलटकर, दिलीप चित्रे, बा. सी. मर्ढेकर, म वा धोंड, त्र्यं शं शेजवलकर, विंदा करंदीकर, बालकवी, केशवसुत, जयंत नारळीकर, लक्ष्मीबाई टिळक, विनोबा भावे, सेतु माधवराव पगडी, दि. बा. मोकाशी, सदानंद रेगे, राम गणेश गडकरी, नामदेव ढसाळ, गोविंदराव टेंबे, चिं त्र्यं खानोलकर, श्री. ना. पेंडसे, र. वा. दिघे...)

They never became the president of All-India Marathi Literature Meet!

Other than holding sprawling (and eagerly awaited by me this year!) Marathi book exhibition, maybe these meets serve a purpose I don't quite understand.


'I sometimes wonder who all this is really for.'

The Spectator

Hockey World Cup and a Tale of Two SSC Exams

Gol Maal(1979) is my favourite film. I must have seen it several times.

It's directed by Hrishikesh Mukherjee, who was a very interesting person.

Here is how he conceived his film "Anand" (1971): Mukherjee loved Raj Kapoor so much that he was morbidly afraid thinking of Raj Kapoor's death some day. The film is an effort to capture those feelings. Raj Kapoor is played by Rajesh Khanna and Hrishikesh Mukherjee is played by Amitabh Bachchan.

This is one of the most creative idea I have heard for a Hindi film.

'Gol Maal' (and Chhoti Si Baat, 1975), really captured the mood of people like me in the 1970's, early 1980's: bell-bottoms trousers...long hair...a belief that a revolution was round the corner and anger would get us there...good education...no jobs ('the best' job going was that of a clerk at a nationalised bank)...phone was something one saw only in movie...middleclass pretty girls- flaunting nonzero size figures- who got married before they turned even 21...and field hockey as popular as cricket.

A hockey match at Mumbai, between India-Pakistan, plays a major role in the film. It gives birth to the twin brother named 'Lakshmanprasad' of our hero 'Ramprasad'.

Asian Age Feb 15 2010: '“Yaar aaj Govinda aur Ashok Kumar bhi hote to mazaa aa jata.” This famous line from the movie Golmaal in 1979 — when actor Amol Palekar feigns sickness to watch a hockey match — depicts the frenzy that once surrounded the national game.'

India won 1975 hockey world cup that was played between March 1 - March 15 at Merdeka Stadium, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I was supposed to be in the thick of my S S C examination.

Earlier in 1973, I almost died hearing running commentary of India's final against Holland when they gave up their 2-0 lead and lost the cup.

Today, I remember the world cup more vividly than the exam! I heard running commentary of every India match on All India Radio and was panic stricken in the last ten minutes of the final between Indian-Pakistan played on March 15, should India repeated their earlier folly.

They didn't!

Inspired by efforts of Ajitpal Singh (captain), Leslie Fernandes, Ashok Dewan, Michael Kindo, Surjeet Singh, Aslam Sher Khan, Virender Singh, Onkar Singh, Mohinder Singh, V. J. Philips, Harcharan Singh, Shivaji Pawar, Ashok Kumar, B. P. Govinda, H. J. S. Chimni, B. P. Kalaiah and riding luck, I topped my school and the town in the SSC exam.

Who knew it would be India's last such triumph for decades to come?

Boys, this year my son appears for his S S C exam! Will you do it for him?

"Australian Jamie Dwyer, pictured below, is considered as the most lethal striker in world hockey, but there is something even this 30-year Australian cannot do — win every game 10-0 for coach Ric Charlesworth." (The Asian Age, Feb 23 2010)

Mr. Charlesworth, once we routinely used to!


Picture Courtesy: Getty Images

Rajnikant, Homa has to do. Elixir to Push Back Expiry Still Away

Clive Cookson wrote:

"...One of the biggest puzzles in biology – how and why living cells age – has been solved by an international team based at Newcastle University, in north-east England. The answer is complex, and will not produce an elixir of eternal life in the foreseeable future..." (FT, February 15 2010)

The Times of India reported on Feb 18 2010:

"Call it the Nagavalli effect or, in other words, the fear of death. Superstar Rajnikant has turned to God for solace, following the death of his close friend and Kannada actor Vishnuvardhan.

Rajnikant, still struggling to come to terms with Vishnuvardhan's death, recently conducted the Maha Mrutyunjaya homa (to ward off death) and visited several shrines in and around Mysore to counter the negative energy and evil forces..."

Artist: Colin Wheeler, Spectator

Waiting for Marathi's Joseph Conrad. Atleast another Vijay Tendulkar.

Until recently we had Vijay Tendulkar (विजय तेंडुलकर) who created 'Ghashiram Kotwal' (घाशीराम कोतवाल) in 1972 to show what havoc totalitarianism wreaks on civil society and how the government of the day creates and encourages such forces for self preservation.

(btw- Nana Phadanvis (नाना फडणवीस) 1742-1800 'the government of the day' in 'Ghashiram', adjusted for inflation, was probably as wealthy as the richest politician of Maharashtra today.)

Since 1993, terrorism has joined totalitarianism in Maharashtra.

Where do we stand today?

Loksatta, February 12 2010:

"...Today if a Marathi speaker goes to any other part of India, he would feel embarrassed. Other Indians get a picture of Maharashtra where only rowdyism, bullyism, gangsterism, terrorism and uncontrolled land-grabbing is going on. Earlier the images that were evoked when the word 'Bihar' was pronounced are now evoked by the word 'Maharashtra'..."

(लोकसत्ता: "...आज देशाच्या कोणत्याही भागात कुणीही मराठी माणूस गेला तरी त्याला अतिशय संकोच वाटावा, अशी स्थिती आहे. महाराष्ट्रात फक्त राडेबाजी, दादागिरी, खंडणीबाजी, दहशतबाजी आणि बेसुमार भूखंडबाजी चालू आहे असेच चित्र अन्य भारतीयांना दिसते. पूर्वी ‘बिहार’ हा शब्द उच्चारला तरी ज्या प्रतिमा डोळ्यासमोर येत, तशा आता ‘महाराष्ट्र’ हे नाव उच्चारले तरी येतात...")

Is this all reflected in Marathi literature?

Sure, there have been few attempts but nothing is even close to 'Ghashiram Kotwal' let alone Conrad's writings. (G A Kulkarni जी. ए. कुलकर्णी 1923-1987 was inspired by Conrad. But he didn't write any 'political' stuff.)

In English?

John Gray:

"...It is no accident that nothing approaching a great political novel appeared in the last decades of the 20th century...It is a telling fact about the closing decades of the 20th century that the closest approximation to a notable political novel was probably The Bonfire of the Vanities.

Conrad is our contemporary because, almost alone among 19th- and 20th-century novelists, he writes of the realities in which we live. At bottom, we know the dilemmas we face are not wholly soluble; but we prefer not to dwell on that. In order to avoid ethnic and religious enmities interacting with the rising scarcity of oil, water and other necessities, we need a worldwide programme of restraint and conservation; but such a programme is difficult to imagine at the best of times, and impossible while crucial regions of the world are at war. The realistic prospect is that the most we can do is stave off disaster - a task that demands stoicism and fortitude, not the utopian imagination. Which other novelist can school us so well in these forgotten virtues?

Conrad's greatness is that, by an art of enchantment, he brings us back to our actual life...

...It falls to a novelist without much faith in the power of reason to enlighten us how to live reasonably in these circumstances..."


'Waiting for Twin Bodies'

February 15 2010; Location: Outside of Morgue of Sassoon Hospital, Pune

Could Toyota Learn from Sarah Palin?

I am always appalled the way native Marathi speakers mock and tease Marathi spoken by non-natives. It's vulgar.

The Times of India reported on 1 February 2010:

"..."Just because one can write, read and speak Marathi does not entitle him to local jobs...For getting jobs in Mumbai, one has to be a Marathi by birth. Just knowledge of reading and writing the language will not do," Raj Thackeray said at a party meeting at Shanmukhanandaq hall in Matunga area.

Raj also criticised party members for distributing Marathi alphabet books to north Indian taxi drivers last week.

"Think over the type of protest you were undertaking. Who told you to teach them Marathi," Raj said..."

So now we are not even amused. We frown (and attempt to lynch?) if you speak Marathi despite being not borne in Maharashtra!

However I must admit that I was shocked to see the efforts of Toyota president Akio Toyoda speaking English at a press conference on Feb 5 2010.

He said: "Believe me, Toyota’s car is safety. But we will try to increase our product better.”

I agree with David Pilling when he says:

"...It would normally be unforgivable to mock someone’s difficulties in English. But the fact that Mr Toyoda, who earned an MBA in the US, had not been drilled in a word-perfect English apology says much about Toyota’s sub-quality response to its recall crisis. In Japan, the apology, like ikebana and haiku, is an art form. Yet as recently as last Friday, when the Toyota chief made his tangled mea culpa, the company was still failing to address the concerns of its customers, 70 per cent of whom live outside Japan..." (FT, Feb 10 2010)

Recently Sarah Palin, a Presidential hopeful, who had been shown reading notes from her hand at a question and answers session, was mocked in US.

But I guess Ms. Palin did better than Akio Toyoda.


Artist: Mike Luckovich

Shelley Shailendra. Which are Our Sweetest Songs?

According to Shailendra (1923-1966):

"sweetest songs are those that we sing in sad voice"

"hain sabase madhur wo geet jinhen, ham dard ke sur men gaate hain,
ham dard ke sur men gaate hain;
jab had se guzar jaati hai khushi, aansoo bhi chhalak te aate hain,
aansoo bhi chhalak te aate hain;
hain sab se madhur wo geet..."

(Patita, 1953, music: Shankar Jaikishan शंकर-जयकिशन)

According to Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822):

"We look before and after,
And pine for what is not:
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought."

Notice Shelley died even yonger than Shailendra.

Their songs remain sweet as ever.

Stefan Zweig. Who? The One Who Missed 'The World of Yesterday'

(p.s. After this post was published, I received a call from Vasant Sarwate [वसंत सरवटे] on Feb 11 2010. He told me that he has read almost all books of Zweig. He also informed that V S Khandekar [वि स खांडेकर] has translated 'The World of Yesterday' into Marathi)

Many, if not most, important books and authors, Indian and foreign, have NOT been translated in Marathi. (Read a related post here.)

Therefore, it is not surprising that, today, most Marathi speakers don't know anything about Stefan Zweig. It wasn't always so. At one point, he was popular among adult Marathi readers

Our household was an exception where kids knew Zweig.

From our early childhood, we knew him and Erich Maria Remarque more than Henry James and Charles Dickens because my father was busy translating some of Zweig's work into Marathi.

One of the titles is 'bhannaat' (1970) भन्नाट, translation of 'Amok'(1922).

I was captivated by my father's translations.

Durga Bhagwat mentions Zweig in her autobiographical 'Aispais Gappa: Durgabainshi' by Pratibha Ranade, 1998 (ऐसपैस गप्पा : दुर्गाबाईंशी, लेखक प्रतिभा रानडे).

Durgabai explains why Zweig committed suicide in 1942: passing of a world he cherished and missed.

I too have figured out a 'Why'? More I read Antony Beevor's masterpieces on World War II, more I say why not.

I didn't know that Zweig had left a long suicide note. In the form of a book: 'The World of Yesterday'

Nicholas Lezard reviews it for The Guardian December 5, 2009.

I found it very moving.

"...His art was always self-effacing, or certainly not self-revelatory; all you could have confidently told about him from reading his work is that he was obviously thoughtful, highly observant, and humane...

...and his world, as the Habsburg empire crumbles and the serene confidence and prosperity of central Europe turns to barbarism and despair, he has produced a document which, however well you think you know the story, is essential to our understanding of history...

...His picture of prewar Paris will have you almost in tears for a lost world...

...This is, in short, a book that should be read by anyone who is even slightly interested in the creative imagination and the intellectual life, the brute force of history upon individual lives..."

I should read it.

Will I ever get to read a book on India or Maharashtra we have lost since I left Miraj in 1981? I miss Miraj the way the ladies in the beautiful picture below are missing men in the woods!

Will, some day in future, I miss that world so much that I think of a suicide? After all my father's father's brother (read more on this here) and my father's mother's brother have committed suicides.


Artist: Adolf Dehn, The New Yorker, June 15 1935

p.s. The name of the cartoonist is Adolf (meaning noble, and wolf; in sequence).

"The use of Adolf as a given name has drastically declined following the regime of Nazi Germany and its Führer, Adolf Hitler, and it has since been a widely avoided name for newborn boys due to its negative association with Hitler." (Wikipedia)